


Invisible String

by WishaDream



Series: Tale's as Sad as Time [1]
Category: Kaylor - Fandom, Taylor Swift (Musician)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Feels, Apologies, Break Up, F/F, Fate, Fate & Destiny, Fate Worse Than Death, Inspired by Taylor Swift, Memories, Memory Magic, Red String of Fate, being without you, do you still love me, folklore gave me the angst feels, folklore inspired, golden string, invisible string, its too hard, karlie breaks things off, magic string, realizing i still love you, secrets dont make friends, taylor realizes she still wants to fight, traveling through time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-11
Updated: 2020-08-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 09:41:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25847518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WishaDream/pseuds/WishaDream
Summary: With the threat of a break up, a golden string takes Taylor back through her memories in order to see if her connection with Karlie is worth saving.
Relationships: Karlie Kloss/Taylor Swift
Series: Tale's as Sad as Time [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1875562
Comments: 2
Kudos: 22





	Invisible String

**Author's Note:**

> Author's note: Picture this as the music video for Invisible String

The familiar sounds of Humperdinck’s bistro filled the air. The chatter of people filled the air, sounds of orders being placed with wait staff or conversations spoken between table occupants. There was the clatter of plates as meals were served or cleaned away. Behind all this light piano music gave the whole place a romantic ambience.

But Taylor didn’t notice any of it as her attention was completely fixed on the woman in front of her.

Karlie’s jaw was set with emotion as she told her, “I don’t know if I can keep this up. I don’t know if I can play this part. Live this lie. I think it’s time I said goodbye and let this relationship go. Stop pretending this can be anything and live the life I’ve been putting off while playing pretend with you. It’s obvious we’re not meant to be together. We’re just forcing things now. There is nothing tying us together.”

Each word she spoke was like a knife to Taylor’s heart, but she remained silent.

She had seen this coming for a while. They had taken things too fast at the beginning and now things were falling apart. While she had wanted to believe Karlie would always choose her, nothing she had done up till then showed it.

“Don’t you have anything to say?”

There was an ache in Karlie’s voice, like she wanted Taylor to say something. To object. To fight. But fighting was all Taylor had done every day they were together. She was exhausted now, too tired to even speak, and words were her bread and butter. But here, now, in this moment none came as her throat ached with the threat of tears.

Karlie paused on her way out the door. Waiting as if expecting Taylor to reach out for her, to come after her, but Taylor had done that every time before and yet they were still here now with Karlie saying goodbye, just like all those times before.

For years people had said they should meet, that they were like two peas in a pod. She wondered now if they weren’t too similar. Both dreamers who had made the mistake of shooting too high in their dreams for one another.

It might have been better if they’d ignored everyone else and stayed strangers.

Eventually Karlie walked away.

She was right. If they were meant to be together it wouldn’t have been this hard.

Taylor’s thoughts took her back to that first time they’d crossed paths. The first time they’d met.

Things had seemed so simple then, so easy. Even from their first words to each other they’d felt a connection.

Had they been mistaken? Taking a simple feeling and making it into something more.

But they had made it more and from that time on they’d spent almost every moment together building their relationship. And every moment felt like pieces clicking into place as things kept lining up to bring them back to one another.

Or had it only seemed like coincidence? Were they just forcing their connection, seeing a chance for life where only frozen earth existed?

It had felt like fate itself had destined them to meet. But three years later and it was like those same things were tearing them apart. When they tried to fix things other things fell apart. Now it felt like they were fighting fate itself that was hell bent on tearing them apart.

Karlie had asked if their relationship was worth saving. A year ago Taylor would have said yes. Now she wasn’t sure how she felt. All she knew was that she didn’t want to hurt Karlie anymore. And she didn’t want to hurt either.

It was best things ended here now. Just let the cycle that had brought them together continue its turn as it tore them apart.

Even if she reached out for Karlie now she felt like she’d be grabbing sand. 

There was a buzzing at the back of her mind so loud she couldn’t hear the sounds of the kitchen anymore. Couldn’t even hear Karlie’s footsteps as she walked away. Couldn’t even hear the—the music!

Taylor’s head lifted as she realized everything had gone silent. Looking around she noticed everything in the world had paused.

A waiter was bent at a table taking an order, his mouth paused mid-speech. At another table a woman was drinking from her wine glass but neither the woman nor the liquid were moving.

She started to look behind her but a glint caught her eye, looking closer she realized it was a string of gold. Her heart quivered as if resonating with the string. It vibrated in sync with her heart, glistening like an invitation.

Reaching out she tentatively touched the string with her fingers, feeling the dull hum in the string.

The vibrations traveled down the length of the string, getting stronger as she followed it to the back of the restaurant.

Pausing, she considered looking back, her throat tightening at the very thought. Gripping the string tighter she pushed the door open, heading through.

As she stepped through the doorway the world around her shifted as she came out the other side in a backstage area. Looking around she realized it was the backstage for a Victoria’s Secrets fashion show. The show where she had first met Karlie. The first time their paths had crossed.

Her heart ached as she realized they would never cross paths again.

Among a group of models she spotted herself as the string led her past the scene. She was laughing and talking, completely unaware that this would be the night she’d meet the woman she’d date for the next three years.

Should she warn herself? They said it was better to have loved and lost, but to lose someone like Karlie—it might be better to have never known a love that strong.

The vibration of the string increased as if to signal it was time to move on. She followed it through the back stage, her eyes taking in everything. The set workers carrying decorations to the stage. The costume designers doing last minute alterations for the models. It was only when her heart felt that familiar pining that she realized what she was searching for: Karlie. Just one last time she’d like to see the girl.

The rope continued on, heading straight through a door. When she went through she found herself standing on a busy street corner. Cars were lined up in rows, stuck in traffic. The string led through one of the cars as she followed it over.

Leaning down she looked inside to find Karlie. She was leaned forward, chin resting on the back of the passenger seat as she smiled, mouthing along with the radio as it played one of Taylor’s songs.

Turning her eyes to the driver she told the man, “I’m actually going to be meeting Taylor Swift today. She’s performing at the show I’m walking.” She was bouncing as she admitted, “I’ve always wanted to meet her.” her excitement turned to anxiety as she inquired, “Do you think I should play it cool? Just say hi and not let her know what a big fan I am. I don’t want to come off as a dork.”

Taylor smiled to herself recalling how quickly Karlie revealed this fact. She might have been beautiful in a disarming way but quickly brought herself down to earth with just how big of a dork she was. But she was Taylor’s dork and that was--.

Taylor’s smile faded. No. She wasn’t Taylor’s anything. Nothing more than her greatest regret.

But if one thing had been different, if one thing had been changed, it would have been sweet if it could have been her. It would have been fun if Karlie had been the one.

The driver took a moment to harshly yell a profanity at someone ahead of them, before his tone grew gentle as he told her, “I’m sure she would appreciate hearing you gush about her music. She is one of those artists that remembers it’s because of her fans that she is where she is now. My daughter is a fan and I’ve heard how many “haters” there are out there saying terrible things to the poor girl. I’m sure she’d like to hear something nice about herself.”

Karlie nodded, “She has had it rough lately. But she hasn’t let it harden her. She’s still so kind and good.”

With that she sat back looking to consider exactly what she would say to convey everything she wanted to say.

Taylor’s chest stung. If she asked the present Karlie would she still feel that way? That Taylor was a good person even after everything that had happened.

The string’s vibrations grew more intense as if signaling to her it was time to move on. Again she considered looking back, but what would be the point? It wasn’t like she would ever see Karlie again. And looking back would just make it harder for her to move on.

Through another doorway she found herself at her favorite spot for dinner.

This time she didn’t have to search for Karlie as she immediately found her standing at the maître d’ stand with her parents. The woman was checking in the group as Karlie looked around the room, taking it all in with a sunny smile.

Turning to her mother, she admitted, “I heard Taylor Swift frequents here. Do you think we’ll see her? I’d really like to tell her in person how much I love her new album.”

Outside the restaurant, Taylor saw her past self walking up to the restaurant doors. Just as her hand touched the door handle she stopped, reaching into her bag as she pulled out her phone. Before she could say anything the other person’s words brought a frown to her face as she let out a strained, “I’ll meet you there.”

Turning away she headed back down the street just as Karlie turned back to look out the door. She smiled not even realizing how close she’d come to meeting the other girl.

Was this string trying to remind her through all these chance encounters that they were never actually supposed to meet? That their paths were always supposed to remain parallel to one another. The reason they were falling apart was because they had tried to make their paths intersect. But like crossing train tracks, eventually they were going to arrive at the same time and the resulting crash was not going to be pretty.

Still, the smile on Karlie’s face made her pause as she took it in for one final time. Bright and full of life, something that had been absent from her smile the last few months as things had become more difficult.

Out through the restaurant’s front door she found herself walking on a New York street. There the string moved parallel to her past self.

The old her was having a heated discussion—okay, a fight with her boyfriend at the time. She was so focused on the man she did not notice the girl walking across the street, moving as elegantly as she had that first time Taylor had seen her walking the VS runway.

Her heart quivered then as it had all those years ago.

Now she recalled that Karlie had arrived late to rehearsals that day because of traffic. They had immediately put her in costume and had her walk the stage. Taylor had been talking with someone else at the time but as soon as the girl had started her walk Taylor had been transfixed. She had never seen anybody move the way she did—like lightning.

As soon as she was back stage, Taylor had been the one to greet her as she gushed to Karlie about her walk. The other girl had been lost for words then which Taylor had found cute at the time. Now she knew it had been because she had not expected to have Taylor gush over her when she had been the one wanting to compliment her.

Then cautiously, with a nervous smile she had said her first words, “Hi, I’m Karlie.”

Thinking she didn’t know, Taylor replied, “Hi, I’m Taylor.”

After that it was like both of them were trying to catch up on lost time as they talked about books, TV, music, family. Like two old friends who hadn’t spoken in years and were catching up they did not take a break. Like if they didn’t share everything they might die.

Now it felt like if they stayed together they wouldn’t survive.

Shaking herself from the thoughts she looked one last time at Karlie and her magnetic walk.

How many times had her and Karlie crossed paths in New York and not realized it?

As if in answer the string took her through a door to a downtown store.

There Taylor found herself shopping with her group of friends. At the time she was considering a cardigan as she tried it on in the aisle.

Walking over to a mirror she inspected her reflection as she called back to her friends, “What do you think?”

In the end she put it back, deciding she had enough sweaters.

Time seemed to pass around her as she watched things speed up as customers came and went while the light glowed and faded with the rising and falling of the sun.

When time returned to normal there was Karlie. She was standing in front of that same rack as Taylor, pulling at the sleeve of the cardigan as she called back to her mother, “What do you think?”

She put it on, standing in front of the mirror as she considered the way it looked. Lifting her shoulder to her nose she sniffed at the knit as she told her mom, “It smells really nice.”

Her mom made a disgusted expression as she replied, “If you buy it you should wash it. It probably smells like the last girl who tried it on.”

Karlie smiled softly, “I wonder who she was. I’d like to ask her what perfume she uses.”

Taylor’s heart quivered along with her breath as her eyes started to sting. When she saw Karlie buy the sweater she realized it was the very sweater she borrowed from Karlie. The very one Karlie always joked about just “giving her.” The one with the scent of Karlie fading into Taylor. The one Karlie would sniff deeply after Taylor had worn it and smile and say, “You really need to let me borrow your perfume.”

As the string signaled her it was time to go, she paused at the door, looking back as Karlie opted to wear the sweater out of the store.

“It’s too warm,” said her mother in reminder.

“But it’s so cute.”

Taylor felt an emptiness in her chest where Karlie had once lived.

Could she live there again?

Would she?

The string took her to a dive bar she recognized as having been a favorite spot of one of her exes. In the memory she was fighting with the ex, not even noticing the world around her, all her attention on him. A few feet away Karlie was dancing with her friends, smiling, lost in her own world of sunshine and light.

Taylor lingered by the scene, remembering when Karlie had smiled like that with her, dancing with her at the Met Gala, when the staff kept reminding them they were going to be closing soon. But the two had kept dancing as if time didn’t matter to them. As if the world consisted of them alone.

The next door took her outside to her favorite park. She was sitting on a bench reading a book. Setting the volume down for a moment she let out a romantic sigh as she cast her eyes to the morning sky.

Taylor recognized that look. It was the one she got when she was dreaming of her life spent with someone special. When she felt that longing to find “the one.”

Every day that summer she had sat on that bench, wishing and dreaming of meeting someone. A chance encounter where they might walk past, their dog running into her legs, tangling its leash around her feet as the man quickly apologized for the canine’s clumsiness. She would laugh, brushing her hair behind her ear as she assured him it was fine. He would be charmed by her and invite her to coffee at one of the nearby stands.

But that had never happened and she’d finished ten books waiting for a meet cute.

Was that why the string had led her there? To remind her how she was always dreaming and trying to find romance in places it had no right existing. Like a flower growing in concrete, born to die.

She’d thought wanting was enough, to live for the hope of it all, but it hadn’t been enough. And Karlie had been hers to lose. A fantasy she had built up till there was no reality left. When it did peek its head she’d find the fantasy world she built up was not strong enough to support it and would crumble away around her.

The string led her past a yogurt stand Taylor remembered having frequented for most of that summer. But the girl behind the counter wasn’t Karlie. When she looked around she didn’t even see the girl. It had become like a where’s Waldo but with Karlie, so where was she?

The string vibrated harder, but not in the way that it usually did when it was time to go. More like it was telling her to look closer.

Her eyes drifted back to the yogurt stand as she looked it over in place of the people. There on one of the posts an etching faded with time: the initials K-K.

How did that get there?”

As if in answer time started to shift around her again as the sun and moon moved above in the opposite direction as people walked backwards past her. Even as the world moved around her she remained still. Waiting. Just as she’d always done. Waiting for Karlie to return.

Standing still when she should have been moving forward. Looking to the future instead of being lost in the past. This was what the string was trying to tell her—it was time for her to move on instead of continuing to cling to the past and how things could have been.

Just as her grip on the string started to loosen the world went back to normal speed. There at the yogurt stand she saw a young Karlie working the counter. She was dressed in the shop’s uniform of a cute teal polo, smiling as she served the various patrons.

Taylor recalled Karlie telling her she’d worked various summer jobs during her time between modeling gigs in New York. She had worked so many she didn’t recall half of them.

During her down time Karlie carved her initials into the pole before growing bored of that as she rested her elbows on the counter, staring off at the park with a wistful expression.

Aloud Karlie mused, “I was hoping to meet somebody here. I guess that’s not happening.” A long slow sigh.

But they did meet there one day, when they were dating, when the leaves above were gold and red with fall. Together they passed the various spots where Taylor had once sat alone reading and wondering if she’d ever find true love.

She even recalled Karlie casually pointing at one of the food stands as she said, “I used to work at a booth like that. It was at a park, maybe central. I don’t remember. I worked so many odd jobs back then.”

But it had been there. In that same park Taylor had walked years later. Even years apart their paths intersected like something was pulling them together, closer and closer till they finally collided.

This. This was what the string was trying to tell her. They were always destined to meet, some invisible string tying them together. They both had just missed the signs, or forgotten them. Missed the clues that confirmed they were meant to be.

The string led her past a tree. The world shifted around her as she found herself in a completely different world, a battlefield with trenches and barbed wire and explosions. An airplane rumbled overhead as voices called out in pain and panic around her.

In front of her she watched a soldier run, gun in hand. He dove down as an explosion went off behind him. Lifting his head a moment later he found a fallen soldier a few feet off from him. Belly crawling over he found the man to still be breathing. Pressing his hand into the young man’s wound he told him, “Keep breathing. Breathe in. Breathe out. Don’t stop.”

The younger soldier looked around for a medic, calling out, “He’s bleeding out. Someone help.”

When no one came the soldier put the fallen soldier’s arm over his shoulder, letting out a grunt as he started to carry him back to the allies’ line. As the pair passed her, Taylor realized the young man carrying the injured soldier was someone she recognized: her grandfather.

Her heart paused as she hesitated for a moment. Finally she let her eyes shift to the other man. The face she didn’t know but looking down at his name tag she was only half surprised to see the words, “Kloss.”

Even all those years ago, before they were even specks in their parent’s eyes, there was something drawing them together. Keeping their ancestors alive so they might one day cross paths.

The golden string vibrated again letting her know it was time to move on. Even as she walked away she could not stop looking back at the pair as they trudged across the battlefield. Then it was gone as she found herself walking through the front entrance of Humperdinck’s.

Karlie was still standing there, looking broken with sadness with her back to Taylor. But the Taylor behind her was not there anymore, instead standing in front of her as the golden string in her hand broke apart, drifting away as golden specks into the air.

Watching it go she realized this was her second chance.

Stepping up to the paused scene she wrapped her arms around Karlie as the sounds around them started up again.

“Don’t go. We are connected. We are. Do you know how many things had to happen in order for us to meet that day? How many things had to fall into place? How many people and schedules had to line up for us to meet? To give us a chance to say “Hi I’m Karlie” and “Hi, I’m Taylor. So much had to happen to make that moment happen.

“Just think of how many times we might have just missed each other. Times when we were in the same building but years apart. Or moments we crossed each other on the street and didn’t even realize it. Always just missing each other. Out of sync. But then one day we weren’t and it was a magical moment that day we met.”

She squeezed Karlie tighter as if she might float away like the gold string, “I don’t want to have another moment of almost. Another moment of us crossing paths and not noticing one another. I have you now Karlie and I don’t want to lose you. I just want to have moments of us together. Moments of me borrowing your cardigan and you acting annoyed like it bothers you but it doesn’t really because you like when I wear your clothes because then they smell like me. Moments where we go to dinner to places we’ve never been before. Obscure locations where people don’t know us and say “Hey, you look like an American singer” or “haven’t I seen you somewhere” but the y can never place us and we laugh and I’m not a singer and you’re not a model we are just two girls in love. And I am in love with you, Karlie. I always will be.”

Karlie pulled away, reaching up as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

Taylor helped as she told her, “In the end I’ll always choose you.”

Karlie didn’t respond. Didn’t lift her eyes, keeping them fixed on the ground.

She felt her heart shiver as she hesitantly asked, “Can you say the same?”

The other girl remained silent, reaching out as she hugged her again, tighter.

In that moment it felt like the gold string snapped, plunging her back into a world of uncertainty and sadness.

The feeling of being alone.


End file.
